ImagesMagUK_Digital_Edition_March_2018

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT www.images-magazine.com 34 images MARCH 2018 Erich Campbell is an award-winning digitiser, embroidery columnist and educator, with 18 years’ experience both in production and the management of e-commerce properties. He is the partner relationship manager for DecoNetwork in the USA. www.erichcampbell.com This targets time-consuming workflow regressions. A regression happens whenever an employee has to go back to the department who handled the job before them to find assets or clarify information. It’s natural that departments consult with each other over the feasibility of jobs or confer to handle mishaps, but the standard process should always be progressive, moving cleanly from one department to the next. A job shouldn’t change hands until it is completely ready for the next department. The bottom line Though this can seem like common sense to some and overthinking to others, the ability to access a wealth of well-formatted information has always provided a competitive edge where I’ve worked. While other shops consistently had to contact customers for information that was already explained, we were already in production. When business customers with frequent repeat orders found that our shop could recreate the specs of a previous order with a single click, other shops had to start from scratch or couldn’t remember what was ordered last. We were easier to use. When a simple call at any business hour garnered a customer’s current job status, expected delivery times and historical order info whether or not a customer’s original salesperson was available, customers started to value that convenience over simple price competition. As dry as the subject can sound, simply implementing systems and maintaining an informational workflow can do more than improve your consistency internally, it can make your customers see you as the most capable and trustworthy choice. That kind of trust directly impacts the value ascribed to your work, the likelihood your customers will stay loyal, and the prices you can demand in your market. [Above] Monitoring of order and production status can give any staffer answers to a client question when they are put on the spot. With easy-to-read information at hand for everyone on your team, it makes your customer feel like your shop is on top of every job. [Below] Online job and shop management systems with a complete feature set can help you handle all the information you need to manage and market to your existing customer base [Above] Server-based order management systems were important forerunners of the cloud-based systems we have now; they have all the centralised information storage and just-in-time access a good system needs. The benefit of the cloud is in taking that information and making it available anywhere and on any device, and removing the need to manage and maintain your own server [Above] With information, production files and order manifests available with a click, your production team will never have to wonder where to search for the information they need